Jack London To Build A Fire Analysis

Have you ever been in a life or death situation that required you to trust your instincts? In Jack London’s “To Build a Fire”, a very prideful man had to surive through the dangerous terrain and unspeakably cold climate. He learns to not be so prideful the hard way. “He was bound for the old claim on the left fork of Henderson Creek, where the boys were already. They had come over across the divide from the Indian Creek Country, while he had come the round-about way to take a look at the possibilities of getting out logs in the spring from the islands in the Yukon.” The man voluntarily left his group even though the old-timer warned him that it was dangerous to travel the yukon on his own. This shows how prideful the man actually was and later causes the man some trouble. “He had had no chance to take a bite of biscuit. He struck his fingers repeatedly and returned them to the mitten, baring the other hand for the purpose of eating. He tried to take a mouthful, but the ice muzzle prevented. He had forgotten to build a fire and thaw out. He chuckled at his foolishness, and as he chuckled he noted the numbness creeping into the exposed fingers.” The man laughed at his mistake and how foolish he’d been. Then he made an even bigger …show more content…
The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below. Well, here he was; he had had the accident; he was alone; and he had saved himself. Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them, he thought. All a man had to do was keep his head, and he was all right. Any man who was a man could travel alone.” This quote proves how proud and cocky he is. He makes it seem as if the old-timer had no idea what he was doing. But in the end he realized, right before he died, that maybe he shouldn’t have been so prideful. His last words were, “You were right, old fellow. You were